28 Character Meme: Thundercracker and Skywarp
by beebot
Summary: 28 Character meme, with everyone's favorite pair of seekers.
1. Drinking Energon

A/N: After being urged by a friend to pursue the hobby of writing, I thought I'd finally give it a shot now that I have an entire summer to spend doing nothing. I figured the easiest start would be shorter, lackadaisical pieces on my favorite pair. Please go easy on the writing style; my professors usually tell me I'm a bit wordy (run-on sentences galore) but I'm hoping practice will make perfect.

----

1. Drinking Energon

----

To say energon was a sensitive subject among Cybertronians would be an understatement. The energy shortage was one of the main factors to spark the on-going war, and its collection was the main focus of the intermittent battles on Earth. When it came to surviving on a daily basis, the Autobots had, for once, a definite advantage over their adversaries; a side effect of their good relations with the humans was a steady supply of energy gained through conscientious means. This was a sharp contrast to the Decepticons, who were reduced to a basal state in their frequent attempts at procuring the life-substance through thievery, which often met with failure.

Repeated flops put them in the predicament they now faced: severe shortages with a catch-22 that often led to desperate measures. Too low on energy to make a proper attempt to plunder it en masse, soldiers would venture off on their own or in small groups to make quick hits on energy sources before any Autobots could possibly organize a retaliation. The purpose wasn't collection for the army, but to merely refuel to make it through the orn. This practice tended to be viewed as slightly embarrassing to troops and officers alike, the former for having to raid gas stations or small energy plants, the latter for their inability to feed their own army. However, a non-issue among all the possible arguments one could have against the routine is moral qualms. That is, for most Decepticons.

----

"Well I hope your ridiculous _morals_ keep you from offlining. If you want to sit here and starve until your gears lock up and your processor crashes, that's fine by me. I'll just set up an application for a new trine mem—"

Thundercracker ordered the mechanical door to shut, cutting-off Starscream in mid-sentence, sparing himself the agony of another screeched retort.

"It's not _morals_, slagheap." He spoke to the door angrily, not really expecting the words to permeate the metal plating.

"Trying to convince yourself again?"

Thundercracker turned to see Skywarp lounging on his berth, expression a mixture of amusement and exasperation.

"When did yo—Skywarp, _please_ tell me when you teleport into my room."

Mindful of his wings, the black jet flipped onto his back and scrutinized his companion upside-down. "_Your_ room? Isn't it pretty much _our_ room by this point?" he snickered at Thundercracker's scowl in response. "But Screamer's got a point, TC. Everyone else might think you're just too dignified up to go stomp around at a power-plant on your own, but you can't trick your wing-mates."

"So you've taken it upon yourself to convince me to change my ways, then? Do you think I'm some oversensitive…organic-lover too?" He spat the phrase.

"I think you're a weirdo. Come on, TC. Even those squishies hunt other types of squishies when they need energy. It's not that big of a deal if you're just doing it for survival, right?"

"There's a difference between hunting and _stealing_, 'Warp," he said as he sat down beside his trine-mate. "I'd have no problem with it if it was a matter of going out and "hunting" it. I have enough trouble with raiding energy sources as an army, but at least then I can convince myself it's for some greater purpose. If it's just for me, though…"

Skywarp sat up with a sigh. "So what do you plan on doing then? You're not really gonna starve yourself, are you?"

"…Well, I figured I could just wait until the next full-scale raid. I'll manage unti—"

He almost warped in indignation. "Thundercracker! That could be like…2 or 3 Earth weeks! You're gonna be an empty by that point!"

"Oh come on, Warp it's not that—"

"Yes it is! 'Screamer was right, you're being unreasonable." Skywarp glared at his friend, who returned it in full with a stubborn frown.

"I refuse, and you're not going to change my mind."

If Skywarp was Starscream, he'd have gotten up and stormed out by this point. Lucky for the blue seeker, he wasn't anything like the third member of their trine, and instead pulled the most serious philosophical pose he could manage. "There has to be some way to get it without stealing, then."

Thundercracker sighed, "Look 'Warp, you can go off and get energy, you don't have to suffer for my sake. It's my issue, not yours."

The purple jet ignored him. "What about…buying oil? We could take some money from squi—wait that's still stealing."

Rubbing his facial plates with the palm of his hand, Thundercracker stood up again, and commented, "Don't you think I've thought about this already? Come on, just go catch up with Starscream before he leaves."

"No, TC. If you're gonna refuse to go get energon, so am I."

"Skywarp. Come on, you're being immature."

"And you're the epitome of maturity in this? No."

"'Warp."

"No."

"_Skywarp."_

Skywarp gave Thundercracker the same obstinate look the blue seeker bore scant minutes ago. "Now you see how annoying it is?" The two stared at each other for a full minute, until finally—

"ARGH. Fine. You win. We'll go get some energon. We're going somewhere where they won't miss it, and where no one will get hurt."

----

Forty-five minutes later Thundercracker sat on crushed automobile, sipping energon newly-converted from gasoline. In the distance, Skywarp was smashing gas pumps out of personal amusement, giggling like a (rather cruel) sparkling as car alarms went off. He somehow couldn't bring himself to reprimand his companion for the wanton destruction, despite how strong the inclination to avoid costing whatever organics owned this establishment more money.

As something made the spilled gas catch on fire, much to Skywarp's glee, the blue seeker merely shook his head and hoped to Primus that either the Decepticons would manage to steal more as a team in the future, or the small stockpile they gathered today would outlast the droughts. Calmly gathering them as he heard sirens nearing, he called to Skywarp, and the pair flew back towards their base, leaving a oily smear of what was formerly a Hess Express behind them.

----

http : // img172. imageshack. us/ img172 /1139 /drinkingenergon. png Doodle for the story :]


	2. Bathtime

Warning: Violence, I guess?

2. Bath Time

In the Decepticon base, Skywarp had a reputation as a juvenile prankster. Annoying, but ultimately harmless, his brilliant schemes consisted of paint buckets rigged to fall on those who walked under them.

Thundercracker, in contrast, was the type of 'con that easily blended into the background of a room. Despite the infamy seekers had for their flighty natures and over-the-top extroversion, it was normal for the blue jet to be completely overlooked. He was the anti-social type that wasn't particularly worrying, in comparison to the more dangerous incarnations of the trait seen in mechs such as Soundwave.

In battle, personality traits had a strange way of translating to fit the extreme situation. Skywarp tended to fight with enthusiasm, his childishness becoming a frightening apathy similar to that of schoolyard bullies, a dangerous brand of feigned naivety. The normally empathetic Thundercracker wasn't quite so reserved in the face of enemies that voluntarily chose to be in the war, adopting a cold and ruthless style. Perhaps to retain some of his self-defined dignity, he tended to follow orders of his commander and warlord rather than taking the initiative to be cruel. When being directed by another, any actions he took weighed less on his conscious.

However, some days, he found himself making an exception to his own rules of self-restraint.

"Catch!"

Skywarp dropped the Autobot he'd carried into the sky onto his partner's altmode, resulting in a sickening crack that did not originate from the jet. Skywarp cackled at the 'bot's groan, increasing in volume when he fell offline.

"'Warp! Don't, that's heavy," the Decepticon let himself angle to the side, and the unwilling passenger slid off him into the empty sky. This only caused the teleporter to laugh more at the soldier's misfortune.

Luckily for the Autobot, he fell on comrades.

"Skywarp, stop laughing. It's embarrassing."

"Come on TC, that was slagging hilarious. Did you see their expressions when he fell on 'em? The little one was totally buried."

"…Okay, it was a little entertaining. But he bled all over me. It's disgusting."

"Pfft, alright _'Screamer_. Fuss over a little spilt energon on your frame in the middle of battle."

"You don't know where that Autobot has been, it could be full of viruses."

"An Autobot? Naaaah."

The two jets descended as they continued squabbling, reaching the battlegrounds to search for more victims. In normal cases, seekers preferred attacking from the safety of the sky by far to any melee style, but at this point the battle was so one-sided the fliers had no reservations in joining the chaos on the ground.

Spirits high at their team's current success, Skywarp took the opportunity to kick a few downed minibots he disliked as Thundercracker scowled at him, until they finally saw something of interest.

"Psst, TC, look! It's that Autobot twin that always tries to jump us," Skywarp said as he nodded his head towards the not-so-distant figure with a cruel sneer. Sideswipe was a short ways away, not currently preoccupied with a foe yet momentarily oblivious to the ill intent a short distance away.

Thundercracker didn't vocalize a response, yet his expression shifted in the tiniest way to a determined scowl. The other seemed to interpret this as a go-ahead, and warped behind the brawler.

Sensing him, Sideswipe whipped around, but moments too late as Skywarp grabbed him.

"Let go of me, you Decepticon fragger!"

"Tsk, you should be more polite, Sunstreaker. You're not really in the position to be talking slag about me."

Thundercracker joined the two at this point, commenting, "No 'Warp, Sunstreaker is the yellow one."

"…Really? Which one is this, then?"

"Side…something"

"It's Sideswipe, glitches," the twin unsuccessfully tried twisting out of his precarious position as the seekers chatted. "You stupid fraggers wouldn't be able to tell _each other_ apart if you weren't color coded."

In reply to this, Thundercracker punched the Autobot in the faceplates. "Bad move, Autodork."

While Sideswipe recovered from the blow, the darker jet tightened his hold on an arm and sneered, "I wouldn't say that, Autobot. We're both pink by the time a battle's over." With that, he forcibly kicked the soldier away while maintaining a tight grip on the appendage, activating his thrusters in the process. The Autobot _screamed_ as wires snapped and energon lines ruptured, tearing his arm away from his body.

True to his description, quite an amount of energon splattered on all three of the fighters, droplets sticking to their plating. The blue jet growled angrily at this, to which Skywarp rolled his eyes. On a whim, Thundercracker decided to put the blame on the Autobot rather than his partner, and pointed a charging cannon point blank at his spark chamber.

However, the killing blow was interrupted by a shrill call reverberating through the air.

"Decepticons! Retreat!"

The pair looked up from their victim to see Decepticons gathering towards Megatron and a rather large collection of energon cubes. Deciding to quit while ahead rather than risk reinforcements arriving to prolong the battle, the warlord was directing his team back towards the base.

Skywarp looked back down to his prey, which was struggling weakly as shock and energon loss (not that it was _lost_, per say, being in clear sight upon the frames of all three and the playing field) started to take its toll. Thundercracker let his cannon power down, briskly dropping it to his side and transforming as he took to the skies.

"Leave him, 'Warp. We need to go."

Skywarp tsk'd as he dropped the fighter on the ground, lingering a moment before transforming to follow his trinemate.

----

Catching up in the sky a few klicks later, Skywarp commented, "Good battle, wouldn't ya say?"

Thundercracker made a noise equivalent to a snort in response.

"What?"

"_We're both pink by the end of a battle? _Warp, that was…pathetic."

"Oh come on. I thought it up on the spot, and I had that fraggin' gladiator **pinned**."

"That was inexcusably bad."

"Feh. Fine." A pause.

"What about, 'We'll be bathing in your energon before we're done with you, foolish Autobot!'"

"…Skywarp."

"What?"

"No."

Thundercracker sped up suddenly, forcing his partner to follow suite, and the two continued exchanging insults about their respective battle techniques while returning home.

----

A/N: One thing I kind of hate about some fanfiction I've seen is how people tend to play up the power of their favorite characters, and weaken the ones they hate. Therefore, I drew from the fact that Skywarp actually does rip off Sideswipe's arm in issue 7 of AHM. I hope none of the other descriptions here makes them seem too badass for canon, though you should assume this is one of those very rare battles in which they're doing good.


End file.
